NORMAN, Okla. — A University of Oklahoma (search) student tried to buy fertilizer of the type used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing two days before he committed suicide using explosives outside a packed football stadium.

Police said Thursday that the attempted purchase raised the suspicions of an off-duty officer who happened to be in the feed store at the time. But though an investigation had began, authorities were not able to act swiftly enough to stop the student from taking his own life.

The off-duty officer, whose name has not been released, followed Hinrichs from the store and wrote down his tag number, Younger said.

From there, police identified Hinrichs as an OU student and determined his address. A police bomb squad was also contacted, and the off-duty officer was planning to submit a written report Monday.

"Unfortunately the incident that occurred Saturday was before the information could be forwarded," Younger said.

Hinrichs' father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said the FBI told him the bomb his son had was made of hydrogen peroxide. He said the FBI told him more high-density hydrogen peroxide was found in the apartment. He said he thinks his son wanted to commit suicide and didn't want to harm others.

Meanwhile, OU president David Boren (search) released a letter Thursday cautioning the news media and community from jumping to any hasty conclusions about the case.

"We believe that we should not judge others ... on the basis of color, race, gender, economic status or freely exercised religious beliefs," the statement read. "To rush to judge others or make assumptions about them on that basis is nothing short of prejudice."

It was not clear what Boren was referring to, but the statement went on to note that some people incorrectly concluded early on that the Oklahoma City bombing (search) was the work of a Middle Eastern terrorist.

"As we all now know, the person responsible was not someone from the Middle East but was Timothy McVeigh and at least one other American who assisted him," the statement read.

Police led Hinrichs' roommate and three other Muslim students from a party after Saturday's explosion, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association (search), has said. All were later released.

Joel Henry Hinrichs III (search) died Saturday when explosives — made of hydrogen peroxide, not fertilizer — strapped to his body detonated while he sat on a park bench about 100 yards from the stadium.

Nobody else was injured, and FBI and university officials have said there was no indication he tried to get in the stadium or that he had any links to terrorism.

October 5, 2005About That Sooner Bomber - It's looking more and more like jihad

Where's the MSM on this?

It's begining to look more and more like the Oklahoma suicide bomber, Joel Henry Hinrichs III, the University of Oklahoma student who blew himself up 100 yards outside the Oklahoma-Kansas State Football Game on Saturday night, had much bigger plans.

From GateWay Pundit:

Joel tried to purchase ammonium nitrate at a feed store late last week. Joel attended the Islamic mosque near his apartment, possibly the same mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui attended. His Pakistani roommate has not been seen by neighbors since the incident. The very volatile explosive Joel used is the same chemical that Shoe Bomber Richard Reid tried to use before his arrest. It is very rarely seen in the US and is called "Mother of Satan" by Islamic extremists.

The questions posed by Gateway Pundit encourage more scrutiny: So where's the Pakistani roommate now? Was the family aware of Joel's conversion to Islam? What about the neighborhood mosque possibly being the same mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui attended? And importantly, why wasn't there a suicide note?

Have you noticed that whenever a suicide bombing or terrorist incident of any kind occurs, there's almost always some connection to Islam? I don't know about you, but I've just about had it up to HERE, with hearing about Islam. Unfortunately, it's with us now, and we're going to keep hearing about it until more of us decide to stop being dhimmis, and begin working harder together to encourage our politicians to help us put Islam back in the stone age where it belongs! It needs to be a thing of the past._________________________See below link for large number of embedded links

** Evidence is mounting that Joel Henry Hinrichs III, the University of Oklahoma student who blew himself up 100 yards outside the Oklahoma-Kansas State Football Game on Saturday night, had bigger plans. Joel tried to purchase ammonium nitrate at a feed store late last week. Joel attended the Islamic mosque near his apartment, possibly the same mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui attended. His Pakistani roommate has not been seen by neighbors since the incident. The very volatile explosive Joel used is the same chemical that Shoe Bomber Richard Reid tried to use before his arrest. It is very rarely seen in the US and is called “Mother of Satan” by Islamic extremists. **

Questions still remain:

* What happened to the Pakistani roommate of Joel H. Heinrichs III?* Was the family aware of Joel’s conversion to Islam?* What about this neighborhood mosque?* Why was there no suicide note?* What was Joel Heinrich’s doing the year the took off from school? (Hat Tip SallyVee)

UPDATE: (11:30 PM CST) Joel Hinrichs attended a mosque down the street from his apartment. His roommate is Pakistani and his identity has not yet been released. However, I did hear from a different video that the roommate has not returned to the apartment since the building was evacuated on Saturday night. (Hat Tip LGF… and lizardoid William)

JOEL HINRICHS ISLAMIC CONNECTIONS,VIDEO HERE (NewsOK.com)

UPDATE: (11:00 PM CST) Joel Hinrichs used the same explosive as the “shoe bomber”, Richard Reid. The explosive, called “Mother of Satan”, by Islamist extremists, has rarely been used in the US!

Technically, TATP is triacetone triperoxide. However, it’s called the ‘Mother of Satan’ by Islamist extremists. Experts say it is made by mixing common household items such as drain cleaner and bleach to create a white powder with a strong smell.

It’s so volatile that it can explode even if it’s merely dropped. It can even explode spontaneously, experts say.

There have been very few reports of TATP being used in the United States; however, there have been more documented cases overseas — including Richard Reid, who was arrested after he used TATP in his shoe and tried to light it on a flight.

FEED STORE MANAGER TALKS TO REPORTERS ABOUT HINRICHS

As reported at 5:30 PM!

INVESTIGATORS HAVE FOUND SUSPICIOUS DEVICES INCLUDING GUN POWDER IN THE OKLAHOMA STUDENTS APARTMENT,

Sooner Bomber had tried to buy Ammonium Nitrate!

Joel Hinrichs from an earlier picture (left) and recently (right).

A Feed Store manager said that the bomber outside of the Sooner game on Saturday had been to his store to try to purchase ammonium nitrate:

The general manager of a Norman feed store said Tuesday that Joel Henry Hinrichs III had inquired about purchasing a significant amount of ammonium nitrate, the primary ingredient used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Dustin Ellison, the general manager of Ellison Feed & Seed on Porter Avenue, said that a man matching Hinrichs’ description had come into the store days before he blew himself up on OU’s campus. Ellison said the man asked about ammonium nitrate, but couldn’t offer a reason why he needed it.

After the bombing, Ellison said he thought nothing of it. However, when he saw Hinrichs’ photo, it triggered his memory.

To this point, authorities still suggest Hinrichs’ only motive for blowing himself up was suicide. The FBI released a statement Tuesday evening saying that “there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization(s) or activities.”

The release also indicated that the FBI believes there is “no known current threat posed by any additional explosive materials.”

Ellison noted that his store doesn’t carry ammonium nitrate any longer after recent legislation required new paperwork for stores to sell the product.

The Tulsa World has more:

Dustin Ellison, whose family operates Ellison Feed and Seed, said he identified Joel Henry Hinrichs III on Sunday when the FBI brought him pictures of the student.

Ellison said Hinrichs was acting weird when he asked the young man why he wanted the ammonium nitrate.

“He shrugged and I decided I wouldn’t sell that man anything,” he said.

The university says it will tighten security following the exposion 100 yards from the game on Saturday night.

Joel Hinrichs father said yesterday that his son was not politically motivated and did not intend to hurt anyone:

Joel Hinrichs Jr. said his son did not leave a suicide note and that FBI agents told him hydrogen peroxide was used to construct the bomb.

On Sunday, FBI investigators searched the younger Hinrichs’ Norman apartment and his family home in Colorado Springs, Colo.

As a father, Hinrichs said he wants to believe that the explosion was an accidental death, but said the evidence clearly points to suicide.

Previous Posts on the Sooner Bomber:Bomb Blast at University of Oklahoma!More Information Emerging on Sooner Bomber

A story posted on World Net Daily reported about jihadist literature found at Hinrichs’apartment. This was cited at Protein Wisdom, Wizbang, The Jawa Report, Lan Lampere, Flopping Aces, and Reaganites Unite. The report has yet to be verified by other sources. However, since the explosive used is the same chemical as the one used by Richard Reid, and commonly used by Islamic extremists, it is very likely that this story on the jihadist literature is true.

After the revelations from the past 24 hours, I’m leaning towards true!

The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities said died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday’s explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said.

Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall.

Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released.

Cheema is “a really, really nice guy,” Hussein said.

TigerHawk adds this bit of information:

“We should not forget that Richard Clarke was more than a little intrigued with the idea that al Qaeda was connected to the Oklahoma City attack of ten years ago.”

Wednesday, October 05, 2005Oklahoma Sooners Aptly Named By Cardinalpark at 10/05/2005 09:50:00 AM

Good thing the bomb went off sooner - than the young fellow anticipated, it seems. Michelle Malkin and others (link through Malkin to Mark Tapscott) are beginning to smell homicidal, rather than suicidal gunpowder in the case of the Oklahoma student detonation outside Sooner Stadium during the game on Saturday. Of course, the photo of the kid is enough to rouse suspicion. And then there is the history of terrorism in Oklahoma and the resemblance between Jose Padilla and John Doe # 2. It's enough to make a person paranoid.

UPDATE from TigerHawk: I have long been intrigued by a strange passage from Richard Clarke's book Against All Enemies, which relates to the suspicion that al Qaeda might have been behind Timothy McVeigh's attack:

Another conspiracy theory intrigued me because I could never disprove it. The theory seemed unlike on its face: Ramzi Yousef or Khalid Sheik Muhammad had taught Terry Nichols how to blow up the Oklahoma Federal Building. The problem was that, upon investigation, we established that both Ramzi Yousef and Nichols had been in the city of Cebu on the same days. I had been to Cebu years earlier; it is on an island in the central Philippines. It was a town in which word could have spread that a local girl was bringing her American boyfriend home and that the American hated the U.S. government.

Yousef and Khalid Sheik Muhammad had gone there to help create an al Qaeda spinoff, a philippine affiliate chapter, named after a hero of the Afghan war against the Soviets, Abu Sayaff. Could the Al Qaeda explosives expert have been introduced to the angry American who proclaimed his hatred for the U.S. government? We do not know, despite some FBI investigation. We do know that Nichols's bombs did not work before his Philippine stay and were deadly when he returned. We also know that Nichols continued to call Cebu long after his wife returned to the United States. The final coincidence is that several Al Qaeda operatives had attended a radical Islamic conference a few years earlier in, of all places, Oklahoma City.

As I wrote last spring:

That was the entire passage -- there was no disclaimer, no qualification. It looks for all the world as though Richard Clarke believes that there is an al Qaeda connection to Oklahoma City, but is unwilling to say quite that much without evidence. It will be interesting whether new evidence surfaces, and whether Clarke says anything about it.

The links between al Qaeda and Oklahoma, of all places, are too weird to be ignored. Does this week's "sooner boomer" explosion warrant a closer look at the Oklahoma City attack of ten years ago? Perhaps it does.

Gateway Pundit, by the way, has a huge round-up. Instapundit's post is here.

UPDATE by TigerHawk (2:15 pm): Here's Stratfor's map of the stadium and the location of the explosion:

University officials have said they believe Joel Henry Hinrichs III used the improvised explosive device (IED) to commit suicide and that he was not attempting an act of terrorism. The FBI has said there is no evidence that Hinrichs was tied to a terrorist group.

Coincidences are rare in counterterrorism, however. A blast occurring less than 100 yards from a stadium packed with more than 84,000 people certainly has the hallmarks of a terrorist attempt.

Why Aren't We Being Told More Facts About the OKlahoma Suicide Bomber? What are the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force Investigating?

University of Oklahoma President David Boren seems determined to have everybody believe Joel Henry Hinrichs III was merely a disturbed young man who decided to commit suicide by blowing himself up within 100 yards of a stadium containing 84,000 screaming fans of Sooner football.

Sorry, I don't buy it, at least not yet. Here's why: First, The Daily Oklahoman is reporting authorities found a large cache of bomb-making materials in Hinrichs' apartment. The cache is so big that the Oklahoman reported one of the officials on the scene estimated a full 24 hours would be required to cart away all of the material.

Suicide victims don't normally accumulate a large amount of bomb-making material in their homes. People intent on blowing up other people do.

Second, the proximity to the stadium suggests Hinrichs' target was the crowd, perhaps as people were leaving the game. But being an OU student, he presumably would have access to the student seating section and could have gone from that area to anywhere else in the crowd he chose.

What better place to detonate a bomb guaranteed to both kill and maim many, as well as incite terror and possibly a stampede that would kill and injure more people? My guess is Hinrichs was kept from reaching his target by a premature detonation. Add the proximty of the Micro-Biology building and you may have the potential for a kind of bio-bomb that could have guaranteed utter chaos in and around the stadium.

Third, why was Boren sufficiently familiar with Hinrichs to so quickly issue an opinion about his motive in the bombing? When he resigned in November 1994 as an Oklahoma senator, Boren was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He left the Senate just after the Democrats lost their majority in the GOP sweep of 1994.

Add to his Senate years the presence of an active and long-established Muslim student presence on the OU campus stemming in great part from the school's excellent Petroleum Engineering program, and it stands to reason that Boren has been privy to intelligence briefings as head of the school. He almost certainly has maintained excellent contacts within the U.S. intelligence community made during his tenure as chairman of the Senate committee. Is that how he knew so quickly of Hinrichs?

Fourth, in one of the photos appearing in the media, Hinrichs appears to have a fresh beard, which is characteristic of new Muslim male converts. His father told The Oklahoman his son was a quiet, intellectual type, but he had no idea what might have incited him to take his own life. We can only assume the father also didn't know of the bomb-making material in his son's apartment. Perhaps we are dealing with a recent or a secret convert?

Finally, if Hinrichs was just a disturbed guy who decided to kill himself with a bomb 100 yards from a crowd of 84,000 people instead of simply putting a bullet through his temple, slashing his wrists or some other traditional way of doing away with himself, why is the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force now the lead agency in the investigation?

Sources confirmed Tuesday night that at least one of the components in the bomb used by Joel Henry Hinrichs III Saturday night was a product called TATP.

Technically, TATP is triacetone triperoxide. However, it’s called the ‘Mother of Satan’ by Islamist extremists. Experts say it is made by mixing common household items such as drain cleaner and bleach to create a white powder with a strong smell.

It’s so volatile that it can explode even if it’s merely dropped. It can even explode spontaneously, experts say.

There have been very few reports of TATP being used in the United States; however, there have been more documented cases overseas — including Richard Reid, who was arrested after he used TATP in his shoe and tried to light it on a flight.

NewsOK.com confirms that Hinrichs tried to buy a “large quantity of ammonium nitrate fertilizer” at a Norman, Ok., feedstore four days before the bombing and reports that Hinrichs attended the same Norman mosque once attended by Zacarias Moussaoui. (Hat tip: G. Hancock and Jason Smith.)

Meanwhile, the FBI tells the Colorado Springs Gazette that Hinrichs had no known ties to extremist or terrorist groups. The national MSM is still AWOL.

Gerry Daly links to video of local news coverage and wonders where the rest of the national MSM is.

The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities said died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday’s explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said.

Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall.

Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released.

A Lincoln Town Car believed driven by OU Suicide Bomber Joel Henry Hinrichs III remains in the parking lot of the apartment where he lived and a U.S. Department of Justice inventory of the contents found by law enforcement officials is visible on the seat, Tapscott’s Copy Desk has learned.

Among the items listed on the inventory are “13 plastic bottles” in the trunk. The inventory did not note if there was anything in the bottles, their size or coloration.

Other items on the inventory include a title, insurance certificate, a 2003 Rand McNally Road Atlas and two other highway maps with undecipherable titles. The car’s license tag is Oklahoma VUL014, with a February 2006 expiration date. Tapscott’s Copy Desk has also learned that a tree near where Hinrichs’ bomb detonated displays a number of small round holes and some areas of a metallic substance.

NORMAN, Okla. -- The president of an OU student organization said he believes Joel Henry Hinrichs III was neither a Muslim nor a visitor to local mosques.

Ashraf Hussein, the president of OU's Muslim Student Association, also confirmed that up to seven people were either questioned or detained regarding the bombing death of Hinrichs, a 21-year-old engineering student.

Hinrichs died Saturday night after a bomb he was supposedly carrying exploded while he sat on a bench next to George Lynn Cross Hall, about 100 yards from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where 84,000 people were watching a college football game.

While the incident and its investigation have spurred plenty of rumor and speculation, authorities have consistently maintained that there is no evidence Hinrichs belonged to an extremist organization.

Police led Hinrichs' roommate and three other Muslim students from a party after Saturday's explosion, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association (search), has said. All were later released.

Board of Advisors2010-2011 Board of Advisors of the MSA of US & Canada

Lina Hashem, Member

Sr Lina graduated from George Mason University with a B.S. in Management Information Systems and a Minor in Information Technology in 2003. She currently works at Booz Allen Hamilton, an IT and Management Consulting Firm in Herndon, VA as a Senior Consultant. She worked with MSA National as VP of US from 2003 - 2004, as Ex-Officio from 2004 - 2005. She lives with her family in Northern VA and enjoys travelling, photography, and diving.

Fertiliser\sugar\lucozade\flour were being demonised over here at the time as well. Yes, apparently the Al-Cia'da crazies that were close to getting a nuke had to make to do with soft drinks and hair products in the meantime.